Friday is Wear Your Old Band T-shirt to Work Day

Gary Flockhart

Tomorrow (Nov 25) is Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day, so get rummaging through the closet tonight to check for armpit stains and moth holes.

Now in its ninth year, Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day was the creation of BBC6’s Steve Lamacq, who says: “T-Shirt Day was originally aimed at finding an excuse for music fans to unearth one of their old band t-shirts and wear it to work for a day - a bit like a badge of honour - which we thought might be fun because there are so many stories surrounding these shirts.

“What’s been brilliant, though, has been seeing the terrific array of band names being paraded on the day - old and new groups, some of them quite obscure. And sure enough, they all have a tale behind them.

“Over the past couple of years, the day has now started becoming a bigger celebration of music-related t-shirts, saluting the designs and logos and slogans, many of which have ended up being quite iconic or deliberately notorious.”

Lamacq is right. Practically no piece of clothing says as much about its wearer than a band t-shirt.

That said, the one unspoken rule, lest you incur the wrath of the hardcore, is that you should actually really like the band whose name is emblazoned across your chest.

After all, nothing says “wannabe” more than an “iconic” Spice Girls t-shirt, right?

To celebrate Wear Your Old Band T-shirt To Work Day, we’ve picked 10 of the most iconic band t-shirts ever.

Everyone will have their own peculiar favourite, of course, but here are some of ours and the stories behind them…